Owning a vehicle means that you will have to repair damage at some point, and fixing scratches on cars is the most common repair you will have to make.
It is likely that your car will have been scratched several times after the first few years or even months of owning it. Key scratches from trying to unlock your door, marks from other car doors opening against yours, scratches from you or others carrying something sharp too close to your car and from driving into poles, walls and other cars are common.
Some scratches can be fixed with a bit of polish and hard work, while others might need re-spraying. It is important not to leave damage unchecked, especially if it is deep, as the metal underneath could be exposed to the air and might rust. Rust damage is much harder to repair than any initial scratches.
The following video may help some of you to repair the damage to your vehicle…
Video: Removing Scratches from Car with Fix it! Pro:
Understanding your scratch
Car manufacturers, since 1990, have been using a two stage painting system on vehicles. There are several different layers, and starting at the bottom, these are: the metal or plastic of the car, then the primer layer, then the paint colour layer and finally the top clear coat for gloss and shine and to protect the paint. The top clear coat is made from a very durable solution and is made to last. It also makes it easy to bring your car to a high shine.
Scratches that are no deeper than the clear coat often show up a white colour which makes them stand out if the car is any other colour. Similar to a scratch on a glass, light reflects of the scratch on the clear coat also making it easy to spot. Luckily, most scratches fall into this category. If yours is in this category, removing it will be simple. It will just require some polish and a little knowledge of the right technique.
Hopefully your vehicle isn’t scratched quite this bad:
How deep is your scratch?
The following is a simple way to work out how deep your scratch is and whether you can fix it yourself or whether you will have to take it to a professional.
- Step one
Clean the area with a chamois or soft cloth and water.
- Step two
Run a clean finger across the scratch. What do you feel?
a.) If you feel nothing, the scratch is no deeper than the top clear coat and will be easily removed.
b.) If you feel a slight line, it is likely that the scratch is borderline and should also be completely removed.
c.) If you can feel the gauge very easily, the scratch will require re-painting or re-spraying.
Getting to work
For any of the above three scratches, you could take your car to a professional where fixing scratches on cars is done daily and will be done well. Another way to do it is to try to fix the minor scratches yourself. There are many companies offering home car scratch kits.
If the scratch is really minimal, you could always get to work with a chamois and some car polish to buff it away. If that doesn’t work, the following are the steps to take to fix a minor scratch. You will, of course, need the professional products.
- Clean the area properly.
- Remove the scratch with polish.
- Glaze the area to enhance the paint beneath.
- Seal the glazed paint with a polymer paint sealer.
For fixing a borderline scratch yourself, you will need to wet sand the area. This is slightly more tricky and you will need very gentle wet sanding material.
- Clean the area properly.
- Wet sand the area gently.
- Polish the area.
- Glaze the paint underneath.
- Seal the area with a polymer paint sealer.
You can also try to fix a deeper scratch at home. The trick to doing this is to apply very small amounts of paint at a time.
- Clean the area properly.
- Polish the area.
- Apply touch up paint.
- Level the paint with wet sanding.
- Polish again.
- Glaze the area.
- Seal the area with a polymer paint sealer.